Colonial and Imperial Themes in South African Literature 1820-1930

Abstract

'It is quite often forgotten that does not begin in South Africa with writing', writes Tim Couzens, who has been conducting some remarkable research into nineteenth-century and early twentieth-century literature in South Africa. 'It has its origins in oral performances praise-poems, riddles, folk tales, proverbs, etc.' 1 Modern literature in South Africa begins, paradoxically, with Ntsikana, an early Xhosa convert to Christianity, who died around 1820. He could neither read nor write. But he composed hymns, which he taught to his followers. They sang these hymns repeatedly, until they had learnt them off by heart. His most famous hymn was the Great Hymn of Praise. It was later transcribed and incorporated into the Xhosa language hymn books of the Presbyterians, Methodists, Anglicans, and other denominations. A. C. Jordan, an authority on early Xhosa literature, described the significance of Ntsikana's Great Hymn in the evolution of modern African literature thus: